Fray: Apocalyptic Awakening
by zAtAnnA zAtArA
Summary: Melaka Fray's trip to get away from Harth's memories bring her face to face with an ancient evil...and a new Watcher. Please R&R! NEW CHAPTER TWO!
1. One

**Haddyn:**

_He kissed me. _

Nineteen-year-old Melaka Fray shuddered as the memory of her brother's cruel kiss crept across her mind late one evening. She shook it clear from her mind as she head butted a lurk savagely. The lurk – no, not the lurk, that wasn't quite the right word, was it? – the _vampire_ lurched back a step or two, giving Melaka just enough time to pull her scythe from the sheath that was on her back. She brought the scythe – stake-end forward – towards the vampire and jammed it in his right eye. He howled with pain as he went down, and Melaka allowed her a quick second of fleeting pleasure before she used the bladed end to chop his head cleanly off. His head turned to ash in mid-air, while the rest of his body just crumbled on the floor. The Slayer wrinkled her nose at the stench of death and decay as she turned on her heel, sticking the stake back in its homemade, temporary sheath.

I'll hafta grab a new sheath first chance I get, she thought to herself as she latched on to a nearby pipe and started to scale up the forty-odd-story building. While scaling up the pipe, she idly started to think back over the past couple of months, which had been weird, at best.

Melaka, a former grabber – or thief – for a giant fish-like creature named Gunther, had come across a man late one evening when she had returned home to Versi. He had come up to her and, after murmuring something about her being "the Chosen One", and adding that she was their savior, the one who would protect them all and "end the scourge", he had promptly set himself on fire. The weirdness hadn't ended there though, and Melaka so wished that it had. It would've made life a thousand times easier, she thought. And so many of her loved ones would have been alive. But no, Urkonn, a demon, had found his way into her apartment, had discovered Melaka's destiny, and had trained her, had forced her into accepting the role that some ancient powers that had been dead quiet for the past few hundred years had suddenly decided to bestow upon her.

But that wasn't even the half of it. Melaka had discovered that her mortal (immortal?) enemy was the one person whose death she had grieved for so many years now. Her twin brother Harth. He was, in a sense, master of the vampires, a Chosen One in his own right, chosen to do the exact opposite of what Melaka had been Called to do. Born of the same flesh, they were each other's natural enemies.

When Harth had started his attack, Melaka had been somewhat reluctant to fight back. But Urkonn's murder of little Loo, a neighborhood girl who was like the little sister that Melaka had never had, had given Melaka the edge she needed to fight back. It wasn't until after she had put an end to Harth's master plan, and his subsequent escape, that Melaka had discovered that it was Urkonn who had murdered Loo in cold blood.

She paid him back, Babylonian style.

And now here she was, nineteen, alone, and somewhat confused about what she had to do next with her life. Melaka's life wasn't like the Slayer Buffy's, where she had an entire network of friends who helped her out with her slayage. It wasn't even like the Primal's, where all she was trained to do was to kill vampires. Melaka's life was entirely different, because the world had changed in the last two-hundred years. The last dregs of magick were nearly gone. Religion was nearly extinct. All that now existed were fanatics, those who believed in the second comings of their various gods. Some waited for the return of the Christ, others for the return of Vishnu, and so many other religious fanatics who waited for their own personal savior's return. The only group who had gotten their wish was the Council of Watchers. And they were too busy setting themselves on fire to even care anymore.

Melaka sighed as she pulled herself up onto the roof of the building and then took a look around. She wasn't too far from Versi, it turned out, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to take another round of the Warren before turning in for the night. There was no dearth of lurks in Haddyn, Melaka knew for a fact, but a girl had to sleep. In any case, she had to meet her elder sister Erin the next day for some sisterly quality time, a thing both young women had been doing ever since Melaka's first big battle, and the sisters' reconciliation.

Melaka's resolve to go home was cut short when she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. She gritted her teeth and brought her scythe to the ready, knowing full well that it meant there was a vampire somewhere close. The Slayer leaped off of the roof of the building and back into the night, ready to face whatever dangers lay down there.

* * *

The danger that she wasn't prepared to face, though, was her sister's surprise for her the next morning.

"We're going to Fornia," Erin said pleasantly as she set a plate of warm bagels on her dining table. Melaka looked up in alarm; eyebrows raised and mouth hanging somewhat open. Melaka and Erin had never done a family thing together. They'd barely ever hung out for more than a few hours since Harth's initial disappearance.

"Fornia. On the west coast," Melaka slowly said, pouring herself a glass of unfrozen juice. "Not that I'm not grateful, Erin, it's slam, but…you and I don't have a history of warm happy fuzzies. Or you know, much of a history at all from the past six or seven years. So…why?"

"We're family, Mel," Erin replied, shaking some of her long, ash-blonde hair away from her shoulders. "Sisters. And we're all the other has. I really think we need to bond more. Especially with Harth being all – you know." Erin brought her hands up and curled them and scrunching up her face growled, "Grr. Argh."

"With him being a vampire. It's not a bad word, Erin, you can use it."

"I know, but it's just so difficult. I mean, when I saw him…all pale, and so small…just like he'd been when he went missing. It's so hard to believe. And you -"

"Can take care of myself, Erin," Melaka replied. "I'm not like the other girls. I don't have the visions or the dreams; I barely know anything about the legacy. Harth knows all that. Maybe that will give me the edge I need."

"I hope so, Mel."

"So, when do we leave?"

"This weekend."

"Oh. So…is it anything like Haddyn? Have you ever been there before?"

"No, but I heard it's very beautiful. The northern part at least. Southern Fornia was wiped out by numerous battles in the past few centuries. Lots of bad blood. Maybe even some lurks."

"Oh, a working vacation. I can hardly wait." Melaka said dryly.

"Hardly. You aren't slaying anything, Mel. This is just a relaxation thing. To get away from Haddyn, Harth, and everything else. Just you and me, and warm sun, sand, and the beaches. If they're clean, anyway."

"Could be fun."

"We both need it."

"Can you get away?"

"For a couple of weeks. What about you?"

"Not employed by anyone to do any grabbing, and since I'm Watcher-less and fancy free…"

"So it's settled then."

"Looks like."

Erin smiled, pleased. She didn't really need to get away from anything here in Haddyn. Not as badly as Melaka did anyway. But she did want a strong bond between herself and Melaka. They were all the family each other had left, not counting a psycho-vampiric brother. Besides, with Melaka's new role in life, who knew when Melaka would be gone for good?

"So, what else is going on with you, sis?" Erin asked pleasantly. Melaka shrugged and smiled a tiny, sweet smile. Maybe Erin was right in saying that they had to get closer. And maybe this was the way to do it.

Maybe this was the way for her to start a semi-normal life.

* * *

Outside, in the shadows, a figure cloaked in shadows watched over the Slayer. He stood just far enough away so that he was out of the Slayer's vampire radar, but close enough to be able to get a good look at her. He had come back to the States all the way from England when he had heard rumors of another Slayer having been called, all the while wondering why none of the Watchers had come to him and told him. After all, he was now the Head of Council, and had been for the last hundred-odd years. One would think that they would come up to him and let him know that, hey mate, new Slayer bird's been Called.

But no, the Watchers had kept it to themselves. It wasn't just the fact that the fanatics had kept the news to themselves that bugged him, it was also that that idiot Trevor Creevy had decided to approach the new Slayer and set himself on fire in front of her. Idiot. She'd probably avoid any Watchers after that.

Which made his job just that much harder.

After all, he wasn't just a Watcher.

Spike was a vampire too.


	2. Two

**Southern Fornia:**

The crater was huge – the size of an average sized city, at least. Saffron Isaacs gasped in amazement as she stared at it, this crater that for so long had been unvisited, untouched, and unmentioned. Hardly anyone in the Order of Sages ever discussed this place, but Saffron had been intrigued by it ever since she had first heard it mentioned in a journal from the 1800's. The place, back then, had been called the Boca del Infierno, or the Mouth of Hell.

It was an apt description for the area, Saffron thought to herself, as she breathed in the dusty air. This place, this crater, gave off an energy unlike any place that she had ever seen before. It was mystical, powerful, and oh-so-sinister. Saffron would have left if she wasn't so drawn to the place. But here she was, drawn to the former (?) Hellmouth, for reasons totally unknown to her.

This place, this crater, this entire area, it had been haunting her, making appearances in her dreams for a few months now. Saffron needed to find out why, and so she had come here, not telling any of the Order where it was she had disappeared off to. There couldn't have been any familial connection, she knew that much. Saffron's family had lived everywhere in Europe, but nowhere away from there. So, what was it then? None of the spells she had used had helped her see anything in any of her past lives that left a connection to the crater.

If I'm gonna do anything positive about this, I need to not just stand here staring into the abyss. So, spell time.

Saffron knelt down on the ground and placed her knapsack down in front of her. She unzipped and started pulling ingredients out and placing them near her, all the while brushing her magenta hair out of her face. It was breezy, and she hadn't brought anything to tie her hair back with. In a few moments, spread before her was a midnight blue blanket, held down by a large quartz crystal on each corner. On the blanket was painted a pentagram, along with some other arcane symbols as well. Once all of her ingredients were set out, Saffron seated herself directly in front of the pentagram and breathed in. If this was going to work, she'd need to tap in to all of the primal magicks that existed in the area. It would certainly drain all her energies, but Saffron needed answers – now.

And so she concentrated.

At first, her mind was a blank slate. Then, after about forty minutes, she began to see flashes of color in the inner corners of her mind. The colors slowly started to form images. They grew in clarity, and with the images came sounds, and smells. Saffron was slowly pulled into the visions that she received. At first the visions showed run-of-the-mill supernaturalistic things. Vampires, werewolves, possession, and other mediocre things. It was after all of those that the weirder images started to pour into her head. The Judge, the Turok Han, the First Evil, a Frankenstein-like being created by a mix of magic and science, an Ascension, and…a team of Slayers? The images then started getting older, more ancient. The images, these images that she was getting, this was the source of the magickal activity plaguing this place, Saffron knew.

At first she saw a group of robed figures, crowded around a temple, their heads bowed, blood dripping from their wrists. She saw sand painted red as blood, the stars from the sky starting to black out, and some of them starting to fall. Then she saw a large, stone temple. Snakes crawled up and down the temple, and its highest spire seemingly pierced into the moon. The temple, unlike other temples, seemed more evil than it did a place of holiness.

That's when Saffron saw her. The cause for all of the unholiness. It was a she-demon, in human form. She was stunningly beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that she was ugly in it. Her skin, flawless and seemingly made from marble, sparkled in the dappled sunlight. Though there was no breeze, the she-demon's hair shifted and swayed in the air, as though it had a mind of it's own. Her dark, pink eyes glowed with malevolent love, and her full, silky lips shone with moisture. She had just feasted on twelve virgins, six boys and six girls. She felt good.

Saffron read deeper into this vision, for this was the vision that she had been looking for. This she-demon, she had grand plans for Earth. Indeed as grand a plan as any demon on this mortal plane who sought to bring the world back to its former glory did. The temple, behind, would funnel all of Earth's natural, most primal magicks, therefore destroying the entire planet and starting hell anew.

The young Sage gasped in horror as she realized what she was seeing and who she was seeing.

Proserpexa. One of the highest she-demons known to the world.

And she would wake up very, very soon.

* * *

**Northern Fornia**

Melaka Fray hated Fornia. It was a beautiful place no doubt, extremely clean and full of sunshine, and not the slightest bit of smog that plagued the Haddyn, but there was still something so very…off about the place. Fornia put Fray more on edge than Haddyn ever had; intriguing because Haddyn was the place where the entire world's evil was currently centered.

Wasn't it?

Fray sighed as she staked another vampire, her second in the fifteen minutes since she'd left the hotel at which she and Erin were staying, confused about the theory she had just come up with. In truth, Melaka had just ventured out of the hotel to take a walk and catch some fresh air. After learning of her calling as the Slayer, coupled with the fact that she was a grabber and thusly a nocturnal creature by every standard, Melaka found that she had an even harder time staying at home when the sun went down. It was all in her blood, she knew. Going out at night, getting into potentially dangerous situations, it was all because she was a Slayer, or at least had been a Potential Slayer.

It bothered her, though, that there were vampires here in Fornia. Shouldn't the baddies have been centered around where the Slayer was? After all, if there was only one, then she couldn't very well be in a million different places at once to fight off all of the world's evil. So…what then? What if there was an apocalypse somewhere in the world and the Slayer couldn't get there to stop it in time? What happened then? Weren't there any precautions for that sort of thing?

At that moment, Melaka felt more than anything the need of a Watcher to guide her through these things, to help her understand her legacy, her destiny, and the workings of this old mystic thing that had suddenly become her life.

Too bad they were all pyromaniacal whack-jobs who desperately needed tranquilizer darts shoved in their veins to do her any good. After all, the only things the Watchers were good for now was either setting things of fire, or talking pure gibberish, neither of which Melaka was too keen on getting involved with.

The young Slayer crossed an empty street, lost in thought, a stake gripped firmly in her right hand. She idly wished that she had brought her scythe with her, but figured it was safer in Erin's apartment anyway.

Melaka did a few quick sweeps of some empty alleys and was just starting to head into her last one when she felt a familiar pain suddenly jab her in her abdomen. Melaka ducked into her chosen alley and scaled up a wall, instinctively grabbing onto a pipe that crossed over from one part of the alley to the other. Melaka held on to the pipe, waiting quietly.

A moment or two later, a figure in a long black leather duster entered the alley. His platinum blonde hair was short, and spiky. His acid washed jeans were tucked into a pair of well-worn combat boots, and he sported a black tee-shirt underneath his duster.

He was cute, for a vampire.

But Fray wasn't looking to date.

The Slayer let go of the pipe and somersaulted in mid-air, then brought her right leg out to smash into the vampire's chest.

The vampire seemed to expect this, though, because he swiftly side-stepped her and shot out his arm, grabbing the Slayer's ankle. Using her momentum against her, the vampire twirled Fray around and brought her crashing into the brick wall, sending chunks of brick flying everywhere.

While the move would easily have killed an other girl, Fray was back up on her feet in an instant, stake at the ready. She charged the vampire, pummeling him into the wall behind him. The vampire dodged her last punch, and her fist slammed into the second brick wall, shattering some of that also. The vampire then came back up, his fist solidly hitting Fray's chin, sending her stumbling back a step or two.

She was the slightest bit disoriented.

But not by much.

Fray made to go back into pummel mode, but stopped suddenly when the lurk spoke to her.

"You're good, Slayer. Rough, and definitely need some work. But you're good."

Melaka's instincts went on red alert. Was the vampire from Harth? Was he one of Harth's minions? It would explain why the vampire knew that she was the Slayer, since so many of the lurks that Melaka had come across had no clue who or what the Vampire Slayer was. The fact that this one knew her, and had anticipated some of her moves, alarmed her to no end.

She threw her alarm to the wind and sucker-punched the vampire, and then wrapped her hand around the vampire's throat, knowing that while it wouldn't strangle him, it would offer him some pain. She liked working off of pain.

"Did Harth send you?" Fray whispered viciously. "Did Harth send you?"

The vampire brought his hands up and tore Fray's hand away from his throat. "You know, Slayer-bird, you shouldn't get all Princess Stakes-A-Lot with every single being you meet with fangs. I haven't even put my game face on yet."

"You're all the same."

"Hardly love. I'm your new Watcher."

"Like hell you are. The last demon to tell me that killed a girl I cared very much for. You know what, Lurky? Not gonna happen a second time." Fray said, bringing her leg up and kicking the vampire in the head. The vampire went down and Fray started to bring her stake home when he suddenly moved. The vamp was up on his feet and behind the Slayer before she could even move. In a split-second, her held Fray in a tough grip, leaving the Slayer unable to move.

Fray's stake cluttered to the ground as she tried to struggle out of the vampire's iron grasp. It wasn't her time to go yet, it was too damn soon. She still had so much to do. And Erin…Erin was asleep in their hotel room, unaware that her little sister had gone out for a walk in the dark.

"I'm sorry, love," Spike said regretfully as he tilted the Slayer's head to one side. "But I'm afraid this is the only way."

Slowly, the Watcher shifted his features into his demonic visage and, yellow eyes glowing in the dark alleyway, he sunk his teeth into the Slayer's soft flesh.


End file.
